The Wayback Machine, a service of the Internet Archive which crawls the internet & takes snapshots of websites for future viewing, has completely scrubbed Kiwi Farms from its archives without explanation. This is the screen that comes up upon attempting to search for it on the Wayback Machine:
Click to enlarge
To put in context how abnormal this is, Internet Archive has actively fought Interpol's demands to remove terrorist content as well as refusing to remove the highly controversial site 8Chan, which also had its own share of "swatting" incidents plus a lot more real-world violence. In fact the only reasons they would remove content are for copyright reasons (DMCA take down requests) or if the site's owner personally requested they de-index their site via an exclusion request such as the ones seen here. The administrator of Kiwi Farms did not do that, so the reasons for the removal are unclear as of the time of this writing.
If you can't see by now that this has nothing to do with trans rights, hate speech or the safety/well-being of LGBT people, I can't help you. (I say that as a disabled lesbian who belongs to several other minority groups as well). This is 100% about turning the internet into TV, giving total control over to the government and using trans rights as the trojan horse to do so. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram & Google are the new NBC, ABC, FOX & CBS. The internet is a threat to their monopoly on information... and by "they" I mean billionaires & the 2-party system as well as the media which is the propaganda arm of the government. Any speech that's deemed wrongthink will simply be scrubbed from existence via DMCA take downs, DDoS attacks, deplatforming or hashtag campaigns that lead to one of the aforementioned options. This is the future of free speech on the internet.
For those who were early adopters in the '90s and saw the vast potential of the World Wide Web, it's incredibly painful to see the direction it's gone in recent years. But these latest developments are downright horrifying. There are bigger powers at play behind this Keffals person that will surely come to light later, but by then it will be too late to undo the damage done by these precedent-setting rollbacks to our online freedom. We need to take a pause and ask if all this deleting & scrubbing of content is the most sane and constitutional course of action. (Spoiler: They're not, and history will not look kindly on those who are complicit in them).
You have to ask yourself what kind of person goes to these lengths to destroy archives of their own repugnant behavior. What are they trying to hide? We're not talking about hacking or stalking here: the things posted on Kiwi Farms are all gathered from publicly available sites like Twitter, Facebook & Twitch. Kiwis are not Anonymous--they're not highly skilled hackers or evil geniuses carrying out wicked plots to "take down" people. Anyone who paints the site that way is a liar. If you don't want to get your feelings hurt by the opinions posted there, don't look at them. "What others think about you is none of your business."
And more importantly, if you don't want to end up being mocked on a site like Kiwi Farms, the simple solution is to not publicly post unhinged or incriminating things on the internet (or to do so in a much more private manner). 99.99999% of the human population never ends up with a thread about themselves on the site, including a majority of trans, obese, autistic & "terminally online" people. Being made fun of, while not pleasant, is far from the worst thing that can happen to a person who overshares personal information online. These so-called victims would do well to take this as a harsh lesson & pull back from social media a bit. There are some truly evil predators out there & they could end up getting hurt or killed for real by putting their entire lives & personally identifying information online. "The internet is forever."
If the removal of Kiwi Farms from the Wayback Machine disturbs & angers you too, send your thoughts to info@archive.org or give them a call at 415-561-6767. Please be cordial & respectful but let them know this is unacceptable for a website whose stated purpose is archiving online content. We can't let this be a precedent-setting event without letting our voices be heard. In the meantime, here's a list of some alternatives to this shady site should you need them:
Time Travel
Archive.today
Stillio
Page Freezer
Alexa
WebCite
Perma.cc
Actiance
Cached View
Resurrect Pages
Internet archives serve a vital role in preserving online culture, history & records of human knowledge. Their importance is only growing as the world spends more time on the internet & transfers more of their news, media & communication online. Nobody should have a problem with their existence unless they're doing something illegal or immoral that they want to hide.
"If I were to ban what they consider 'doxing', the next thing would be 'deadnaming'. They have to falsely equate information with harassment, speech with violence, and discussion with stalking. As long as they don't like what is being said, they will always find a way to make it out as something evil and dangerous."
--- Null, Administrator (Kiwi Farms)
Dear reporters: Not that you'll ever see this humble little blog, but if any of you should ever stumble upon it & want the REAL story on Keffals vs. Kiwifarms, here it is. Well, as much as could be salvaged before the 9 year old forum that ranks #35 in U.S. Computers, Electronics & Tech Social Media was unceremoniously taken offline in the middle of the night by its webhost and/or a group of DDoS attackers.
I had never been to Kiwifarms prior to this debacle but decided to see what all the hubbub was about after the media storm. (Just like I'd never tried kratom until the 2016 DEA ban was announced. These things often have the opposite effect, drawing naive people to the "forbidden fruit" for the first time. But I digress). The news articles made Kiwifarms users sound like unhinged far-right extremists akin to the cretins on Parler who spent their days harassing vulnerable people & planning terrorist attacks in real life. So I made a beeline to the page about Keffals and this is what I see. Needless to say, it was NOTHING like what had been reported on NBC News or Axios, which refers to Kiwifarms as a "trans hate site" in the article's title. How's that for unbiased reporting?
Here's what they're not reporting. Decide for yourself.
From Keffals' underage sex meme cult "Catboy Ranch" on Discord:
...and then he moved on to other pursuits, like his illegal bathtub hormone-replacement-therapy-for-teens venture:
...which was likely not so altruistic after all:
And just for kicks, here are his thoughts on women's rights & gay people:
Bonus footage since he feels soooooo victimized by the swatting:
If you can see all this and your only issue is that I've referred to Keffals as "he" throughout the article, please exit now. The 2 major takeaways here are: Why isn't the media covering both sides of the story (as they love to do with things like climate change which don't actually have "two sides"), and more importantly, why are they rallying behind this sociopathic predator & trying to get what's essentially an internet archive plus a few spicy opinions shut down?
I think I might have an idea. Censorship benefits those in power--archiving the bad behavior of pervert politicians; giving a monopoly to greedy corporations so we have to pay 50 separate subscription fees for every song, show, movie, book, game & scientific study we consume; silencing dissenting voices like Chris Hedges who call out the follies of the American empire--these "problems" and so many more are solved by simply memoryholing & paywalling information that's unfit for us peasants to view with our dirty peasant eyes. You know, like China or North Korea have done to their citizens. The NBC News article linked above admits as much, claiming that Kiwifarms could "become, say, an FBI database. It would not be hard."
And there you have it. They don't want us archiving their own cruel, perverse or illegal behavior. Rules for thee but not for me, eh? What they do want is complete control of the internet. They want to turn it into a giant strip mall, as George Carlin once called modern America, with 40 versions of the same social media selfie site to mine your personal data & sell it to the highest bidder. This isn't about "trans rights" and never was--it's about the total overthrow of privacy, freedom of speech, ownership of archived/digital material & the right to say NO to deranged hetero males who insert themselves into every aspect of the gay community, women's & children's spaces under the trojan horse of trans rights. And selling you stuff. Because capitalism. Goodbye, information superhighway. Hello Brave New World.
Once again, America rewards malignant narcissism while painting the victimizers as the victims. The FBI is not a victim for fuck's sake. (Remember COINTELPRO? Waco? All this stuff?) They're one of the most thoroughly funded, secretive agencies in the country, if not the Western world. Likewise, straight white males with an affinity for children and an aggressive rage toward anyone who challenges them are not victims either, even if they call themselves women. Because "woman" is not a feeling or an aesthetic.
It's all very reminiscent of the Epstein affair. All the judges, prosecutors & high-level politicians on those blackmail tapes would likely rather have them destroyed, and the same goes for any illegal online behavior they're caught in. Way back in 2013 Google reported that U.S. government officials, police departments, judges & other powerful entities had requested removal of 4,000 stories that were critical of them... wonder what the number's up to now? And are they complying? Highly likely, as anyone can now request that the search giant remove their name & other identifying information from search results. Just look how their search result quality has deteriorated since the year 2000. What happened to "Don't be evil?"
The same people laughing at the swatting of Marjorie Taylor Greene are now outraged that it happened to Keffals--in reality, both were wrong. Kiwifarms clearly states that members are not to engage in harassment or trolling of anyone off the site, so whatever happened was not endorsed by its administrator or the forum as a whole. And besides, Keffals himself engaged in far more repulsive (and illegal!) real-life behavior with children online that's being completely ignored by the media. The question is: why? In what universe is the sexual grooming, illicit chat messaging & offering of illegal drugs to minors more acceptable than running an internet forum containing unpopular opinions? A forum that has all the receipts on this aggressive child groomer, no less?
TL;DR - Do your own digging with every news story because the full truth is rarely what is presented in the media. Slurs & other hateful words are deplorable but wiping out years or decades of archived material to appease the feelings of any group is contrary to this country's mission statement. This digital book-burning should not be tolerated in any country, let alone one that prides itself on freedom of speech & the press.
Disclaimer: Everything posted here is publicly available on the internet via legal channels... for now. The author is not affiliated with Kiwifarms, Keffals, Null, Cloudflare or any other entity involved in this ridiculous drama. If you have a problem with anything posted here, please contact me directly like an adult instead of doxxing, swatting, reporting or trying to silence me like a coward. Censorship is all fun & games until it happens to you or a cause you care about.
Continuing on my "Fuck Peacock" theme, here are some alternatives to paywalled sites that are free & superior if you're willing to do the work & learn how to navigate their search engines & slightly different formats. Use at your own discretion.
First up: Internet Archive/Wayback Machine. Not exactly a secret but way underutilized. This invaluable resource contains countless hours of films, books, paper files & other pieces of internet history gathered by the site's roaming webcrawler launched way back (get it?) in 1996. They get tons of DMCA takedown requests daily but still have more indispensable material than any other single online source. Some of my favorite posters are Ratterfat McWhiskers (PBS archive) & Windsinger (MTV/VHS archive). Instead of paying for an overpriced subscription to some greedy company like HBO Max, consider donating to these & other users for all the work they do uploading & converting their old VHS & Betamax(!) videos to the site.
The second is Z-Library, a bit more grey-area in terms of legality but highly useful for homebound bookworms without a lot of dough to spare. This site allows you to download virtually any book or academic research publication imaginable for free. Yeah, I know. I feel torn about it myself as a writer. But as long as it's there you might as well make use of it. It's essentially a library without a librarian; a "shadow library" if you will. The files come in many formats including epub, PDF, TXT and Kindle to name a few. You can also contribute to the massive collection of online books by uploading your own to the site.
The 3rd is ev01.to, a streaming movie & television site that posts all the latest streaming content (plus many old hard-to-find classics). I don't know how well it works on phones but with a laptop + Adblock Plus, it does just dandy... or so I've heard. It's a great place to find all the latest documentaries, hot shows & paywalled content without having to subscribe to 50 different channels like Hulu & Disney+. (Some folks claim that sites like these are running Bitcoin mining ops on their users, but this can easily be prevented by installing an app or extension like "No Mining" or "No Coin" on your device). You might want to use a VPN (virtual private network) to view this site if you're concerned about your ISP spying on you since sites like this are technically piracy.
Two Views
Piracy, or virtual friends sharing files? 🤔
You can look at these sites in one of two ways: One, as immoral shortcuts to obtaining the media you want without paying for it... cold, hard thievery. Or two, as representations of what the internet was supposed to be in the beginning: an information superhighway in which people from around the globe can share their media in a peer-to-peer format without greedy middleman & corporations taking a cut.
Your friends have loaned you books before, right? You get together & watch movies on shared Netflix accounts, yes? Then what's the difference doing it with friends across the globe? This was the argument that users of Napster, Limewire & other peer-to-peer music sharing sites made way back in the day before streaming giants like Spotify & iHeart took over & began screwing musicians while providing an inferior & incomplete service to paying customers. Back when you could download and actually OWN the music for free. Before bands like Metallica & the RIAA threw a hissy fit & forced Napster into Chapter 11 despite already being multi-millionaires themselves.
Nobody's stopping you from contributing financially to your favorite artists in other ways or at other times even if you use these services. The argument that you're "stealing from them" is dishonest. Technology evolves & artists must evolve with it or be left behind. What's not acceptable is for corporate giants like Viacom & Sony Music to rip off both the artist AND the consumer while playing us against each other with these lies. Musicians make the majority of their money touring & performing live nowadays because these streaming sites are so unprofitable anyway. Amazon, with their slave-driving working conditions, has killed the brick-and-mortar bookstore business single-handedly yet has convinced us that obtaining books outside the Kindle format is "stealing". I could go on but will stop.
TL;DR - Do what feels right to you & let others do the same.
Everything written here is for informational purposes only. I don't condone nor have I ever used any illegal streaming/downloading sites myself, nor am I affiliated with the owners of said sites. Long live the Wild West internet of the '90s.
...for moving all their old SNL episodes to its paywalled "Premium" service. Thankfully there are other ways of accessing the episodes in their full, unedited forms as they aired originally if you know how to work the internet (for now), but what a dick move. So now you're gonna take our money & not even pay the licensing fees for the musical performances & all the other content you've cut from your own shows? A typical SNL episode is around 1 hour 4 minutes. Most episodes on Peacock don't exceed 45 minutes, with some like the Season 6 Bill Murray episode clocking in a pathetic 22 minutes. Greedy shits.
Getting real tired of these corporations making us pay separate fees for shitty chopped up content on 50 different web portals. Between Hulu, Amazon Prime, Netflix, Apple TV, HBOMax, Sling TV, fubo tv, Showtime Anytime & all the rest, it's a goddamn racket. At least with cable & satellite it was one price for the whole shebang all in one place. The future of online content looks dim with this landgrab mentality and the state of DMCA takedowns.
NBC is the Mr. Burns to the internet's Springfield.
After watching a string of recent interviews by people in Death Row's inner circle during the 1996 shooting of 2Pac & Suge Knight, I find myself coming back to the same question: why the fuck is Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs still walking the streets?
It's been alleged for years that the East Coast/West Coast beef that led to the deaths of rap's biggest stars was spearheaded by label owners Suge Knight & Puff Daddy, but now we have proof of Puffy's direct involvement. In 2008, the assassin's uncle confessed to ex-LAPD officer Greg Kading that Puff Daddy hired the Southside Crips to kill Suge & 2Pac, offering a $1 million bounty in exchange for their murders. Furthermore, Puffy had previously offered to pay the Crips $10,000 to steal a Death Row chain--the same chain 2Pac got into a fight over at the MGM just hours before his killing. (If you want more of the backstory on how 2Pac & Suge Knight were deeply entrenched with the MOB Piru Bloods & how this resulted in a deadly war with the Southside Crips, there are hours of videos on the subject on Youtube. Check out The Art of Dialogue, VladTV, bomb1st & Cam Capone News channels for more).
The 4 men in the white Cadillac that shot 2Pac, plus affiliate "Zip" Martin
After the murder of 2Pac, Puffy paid NY drug dealer Eric "Zip" Martin half the money promised--500,000 dollars--to be divided among the Southside Crips who killed 2Pac. Zip was connected to the Southside Crips via a man named Keith Ed (aka Keefe D), a Crip who dealt PCP & cocaine to him. The 4 men in the car the night 2Pac was killed in Vegas included Orlando Anderson (the shooter), Keefe D, Deandre Smith & Terrence "Bubble Up" Brown (getaway driver), with Orlando being the man who was assaulted in the MGM earlier that night. Zip Martin allegedly kept the money for himself according to Keefe D's taped confession, though that doesn't change the fact that Sean Combs hired & paid him in the first place. What he did with the money is irrelevant. Puffy's connections with the Southside Crips are extensively documented as his Bad Boy entertainment label used them as "security" whenever they performed on the West Coast.
Keefe D is the only surviving member of the Crips directly involved in the shooting. Biggie (the artist on Puffy's Bad Boy label) sometimes made subliminal references to his affiliation with the gang, such as in the song "Long Kiss Goodnight"--a blatant 2Pac diss released after his death. The line "my team in the marineblue six Coupe" is one example. The photo at the top of this page with Puffy & Big wearing dark blue, the color of the Southside Crips, is another subtle sign of their gang affiliation. And here's yet another smoking gun piece of evidence that Puffy & Biggie engaged in the war of words during the height of the East Coast/West Coast drama despite claims to the contrary.
Diddy Put 10K Bounty on Death Row Chains to Southside Crips
Needless to say, putting a hit out on somebody's life is highly illegal. Charles Manson was blamed for single-handedly ending the freewheeling 1960s & sentenced to death (later commuted to life without parole) for ordering his followers to kill Sharon Tate & the LaBiancas, and he didn't pay them a dime for their troubles. So why is Sean Combs still walking free after actually ordering AND paying the ultra-violent Southside Crips for the successful murder of one of the biggest entertainers & activists of the 20th Century? My only guess is that, aside from Puffy's ability to buy the best legal representation available, the Feds & other law enforcement agencies were glad to see Tupac eliminated. They considered what Puff did a public service.
Like so many Black Panthers & other leftist agitators before him, Tupac represented a persistent threat. Not only was he the child of one of the infamous Panther 21, he was close with a number of political prisoners & exiles including Mutulu Shakur, Sekou Odinga, Assata Shakur, Mumia Abu-Jamal & Geronimo Pratt whom he often name-checked in his songs. He even shot two (white) off-duty cops for beating up a Black man... and won the case in court. After their unsuccessful attempt at keeping 2Pac incarcerated on trumped-up "unlawful touching" charges at one of the nation's toughest prisons, the government must've been sick to death of him. Near the end of his life, close friends like Napoleon of the Outlawz say he was thinking of getting involved in politics, something he alluded to himself in a few of his last interviews. This would've certainly pissed off the powers that be.
The "Panther 21": Tupac's mom Afeni bottom left
It's a fact that the FBI had both 2Pac & Biggie under surveillance at the time they were murdered. The so-called "Hip Hop Cops" are a well-documented presence, stalking rap artists for nothing more than simply being minorities & making rap music. They also had extensive files on Bob Marley, John Lennon, Grace Slick, John Denver & Jimi Hendrix among others. Entire books have been written on the subject of the FBI's unconstitutional surveillance of musicians & what its true purpose might be. There's no indication that this activity has stopped today.
As soon as 2Pac & Biggie passed, the gritty reality rap of the early-mid '90s was quickly replaced by vapid party tracks courtesy of Bad Boy CEO Puff Daddy, Jay-Z & bubblegum crooners like Ja Rule & Nelly. Some say it was "time for a change" while others say this change points to something more sinister in the industry. Either way, never again would we hear profound songs like "Changes," "Tennessee" or "Fight the Power" on mainstream Top 40 radio. Now it was all about cars, coochie & cash. And most importantly, capitalism.
(For the convoluted story behind the Biggie Smalls murder, check out the bombshell ID docuseries "Who Killed Biggie & Tupac?". His killing proves beyond a doubt that law enforcement including the FBI are capable of conspiring to cover up murders of this kind, and that gang loyalties run deep).
Puffy's Violent Past... and Present
1999 mugshot after nightclub shooting
People often ask when Keefe D is gonna be arrested for bragging all over the internet about his involvement in the 2Pac murder. Indeed, his attitude is disgusting. He comes across as a proud thug with zero remorse who would kill again without batting an eyelash. The kind of person borne of poverty, poor education, toxic exposures, domestic violence, systemic racism & a lifetime of bad choices that furthered his own downward spiral into violence & crime. But Puff Daddy is something far more sinister: a cowardly white collar criminal who uses his power to have people snuffed out while hiding behind lawyers & a businessman facade. Nearly everyone who's ever worked for him says the same thing--that he's a cutthroat narcissist with no regard for fairplay or other people's feelings. The amount of societal influence someone like Keefe D has vs. a man like Puff Daddy is virtually non-existent.
To this day he continues to threaten anyone who speaks out on his role in the 2Pac killing, even high-profile celebrities like Eminem, who he threatened to have "handled" for joking that he was involved in the shooting in one of his songs. He's had many other violent brushes with the public, such as the time he fired shots inside a nightclub with a stolen gun in 1999, which he managed to wiggle (read: pay) his way out of, leaving his artist Shyne holding the bag. Shyne ended up serving 9 years in prison for Puffy's crime & then was deported back to Belize for an additional 12 years. After this ugly incident, Combs was inspired to change his alias to P. Diddy as if that would somehow absolve him of his hideous actions. In 2015 he was arrested for assaulting his son's UCLA football coach with a kettlebell, an outburst that could've killed the man if the weight had connected.
Here's a more recent interview where he's asked straight out about his alleged role in the 2pac murder. Note his lack of denial. He just claims he wants to focus on "the positive" now which, like his name-change in 1999, is very superficial & lacks any sense of accountability. He also seems livid that this interviewer had the gall to bring this up on the air.
If Puffy was paying the Crips to snatch Death Row chains off the necks of people in Los Angeles prior to 2Pac's murder, that means he was inciting violence that wouldn't have otherwise existed. Meanwhile he lived on the East Coast where he was safe from the fallout. This chain-snatching was the direct cause of the fight that triggered 2Pac's demise in Las Vegas. When you look at it from that angle, it starts to reek of a bigger conspiracy. WAS Puffy involved in setting up the Quad Studio shooting? Was "I Shot Ya" a direct blow at 2Pac while he was locked up & unable to respond? Could Puffy have been working with the FBI in some capacity to get Tupac "Black Panther" Shakur caught up in something too deadly to escape?
Based on Puffy's history of throwing associates under the bus to save his own ass (see: Shyne), I'd put nothing past him. The fact that he's remained free after all this evidence has emerged about his involvement in the murder also stinks. As stated in my previous article on this subject, the East Coast/West Coast war is very reminiscent of the COINTELPRO tactics used to turn the Black Panthers against other pro-Black groups in the '60s. Perhaps Puffy was the (Federal) agent that sparked the whole thing. It would've been a win-win for himself and the FBI. Eliminating the top-selling rap artist would allow Biggie and the rest of the Bad Boy crew to rise to the top of the game while giving the Feds what they wanted in the form of a very dead Shakur. It'd be the ultimate revenge for their failure to keep him or his mother (or godmother) locked up. He wasn't even able to have a child in his short life so his bloodline was effectively snuffed out with the killing.
Now What?
All this is proof we don't have a justice system in America--we have a legal system. By all means, go after Keefe D and any other low-level offender involved in violent crime. But don't stop there. I'm not sure what Mr. Kading & Co. were even bothering with this case for if not to catch the "big fish" who orchestrated it all. Did they just want to sell books, or did they actually try to apprehend Puffy & fail due to FBI apathy? It's not like they could prosecute Keefe D: they'd already promised him immunity in exchange for his testimony.
And what's with the Vegas Metro PD's lack of action? Either take down the monster who paid to have 2 people assassinated or stop LARPing as law enforcement officers on the public's dime. The Uvalde massacre proved we have more than enough do-nothing pigs filling that role already. Compton residents have known who killed Shakur since the day it happened. His mother filed a lawsuit against Orlando Anderson shortly after the killing too. It's not exactly a revelation.
What WOULD be a revelation is if someone of Puffy's wealth & stature was actually held accountable for their despicable actions for once. The way this has been handled leads me to believe that Puffy's an FBI informant himself or is otherwise being protected for the killing of Tupac Shakur by people in high places within the government. Until somebody proves otherwise, I can't help believing this is the case. If I or any one of my readers put out a (successful) hit on a high profile celebrity after paying to have their expensive jewelry stolen, we'd be rotting in prison or sentenced to death, likely after a lengthy public trial a la the Manson Family case. So why are the FBI and Vegas Metro so silent about Puffy's involvement in the murder of Tupac Shakur? The evidence is overwhelming yet he continues to walk free.
I'm calling on the media to hold his feet to the fire. Include #justicefortupac in your annual memorials & tributes. More specifically, demand that law enforcement interrogate Sean Combs for his role in this horrific crime & stop referring to it as an "unsolved murder". Failure to do so is a slap in the face to Tupac's memory, his loved ones & all victims of violent crime. There's no statute of limitations on murder; as long as this narcissist is still breathing there's still time to hold him accountable in a meaningful way.
Update 6/27/24: Since this article was posted, Keefe D was arrested for the murder of Tupac Shakur in Las Vegas (Sept. 29, 2023). Shortly thereafter (March 25, 2024), Diddy's homes were raided by the Department of Homeland Security for alleged sex trafficking offenses. No link between the two events has been made, at least publicly. However I have little doubt that Keefe squealed as he was known to do long before he was locked up. Videos of him implicating Sean Combs in the murder of 2Pac are all over Youtube, and he confessed as much to officer Greg Kading in 2008. Due to a lack of hard evidence, I doubt we'll ever see Diddy prosecuted for that crime, but if we're lucky he'll have plenty of time to think about it while serving time for his other vile crimes against humanity. The only question is, what the hell took law enforcement in Las Vegas & the Feds so long to take action against these two pieces of human refuse? How much more suffering could've been prevented if Combs had been locked up right away instead of being allowed to become a literal billionaire who used the people around him as stepping stones? And how many more aspiring Puff Daddys are in the process of doing the exact same thing right now while law enforcement knowingly looks the other way?
Stay tuned as it looks like Act II of this saga is just getting started.
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Lead is a naturally-occurring heavy metal with many industrial uses. It's also highly toxic to humans--children in particular. It's been known as far back as the Roman Empire that lead is poisonous to humans, causing irreversible brain damage among other serious health problems when ingested, inhaled or otherwise introduced into the body. Specific neurological & cognitive deficits caused by lead exposure include dose-dependent IQ reduction, increased impulsivity, hyperactivity, aggression & a tendency toward violence/antisocial behavior. These effects are considered irreversible.
Lead does its damage by degrading myelin--the insulating sheaths around neurons--and inhibiting white matter growth. This prevents the brain's hemispheres from communicating effectively, a sign commonly observed in murderers & sociopaths (Raine et. al, 1997). The result is a slower, less coordinated brain. Other studies have linked lead exposure to permanent loss of gray matter in the prefrontal cortex--a part of the brain linked with inhibition of aggression.
So why has lead been so widely used in our everyday products for so long, and what are the implications of that use on human behavior & society?
A Brief History of Lead in Society
Tetraethyllead (TEL), the form used in gasoline to reduce engine knock beginning in the 1920's, was so toxic it would instantly cause poisoning if absorbed through the skin. This was discovered in 1924 when 15 Ohio & New Jersey factory workers experienced the horrific effects of lead poisoning via skin absorption, eventually dying as a result. But true to corporate form, the General Motors CEOs & others who championed leaded gas fought to keep this info suppressed for decades, with the truth only emerging in the 1960s and '70s. While several generations were exposed to dangerous levels of lead via gasoline emissions, the Baby Boomers (born from 1946-1964) and early Generation X (1965-1980) got the worst of it due to increased vehicle ownership during this period.
In addition to leaded gasoline which was the main source of exposure, lead-containing paint was the 2nd most prevalent source and remains so to this day. Houses built before 1978 are more likely to contain lead paint, with both the risk & lead content going up the longer ago the house was built. This diagram gives a good idea of risk:
Courtesy EPA.gov
Systematic Poisoning
Even when you control for factors like income, age & location, Black & brown people are far more likely to have higher blood lead levels than white people. There are several reasons for this, the first being that many of these families live(d) in inner cities where vehicles constantly spewed out toxic gasoline exhaust before smog regulations existed, and this lead persists in the soil today. The second is the likelihood of living in dilapidated government housing built before 1960 which is more likely to contain flaking lead-based paint due to lack of renovations over the years. This housing often remains risky even today.
Kids who are malnourished early in life (which is a standalone risk factor for permanently lowered IQ) and have pica--a condition that causes cravings for non-food items like dirt, ice or paint--have a tendency to eat the peeling paint chips or suck it off their toys because lead tastes sweet. Another risk factor is a lack of access to healthcare among Black people--when they do get it, it tends to be of lower quality than white people. Children on Medicaid or other government-funded healthcare plans are even less likely to be routinely screened for lead toxicity.
But lead paint doesn't need to be ingested to be dangerous: it can also be inhaled as a fine dust which toddlers encounter often due to their proximity the ground. Maternal smoking or vaping during pregnancy is another route to lead exposure, as is living or working in certain professions like lead smelting. Minorities frequently live closer to toxic industrial sites like landfills, incinerators, abandoned mines & high-traffic areas that contain lead-contaminated soil or water. The ongoing tragedy in Flint, MI, is proof of the higher risk that's inherent with simply being a person of color in the United States--Flint's population is comprised of 54.05% African Americans with whites making up only 38.45%.
Lead or Something Else?
Here are the cold, hard numbers. Preschool blood lead levels of 10 micrograms (mcg) per decileter (dl) are associated with 7.4 IQ points lost. Levels of 40 mcg/dl equals an average of an IQ loss of 15 points, with 60 mcg/dl lowering IQ by nearly 20 points. This can be enough to cause borderline mental retardation in even the brightest child with no other risk factors (poor nutrition, neglect, head trauma).
In the late '70s, the average blood lead level for Black kids under age 3 was 50% higher than average white kids. Black children were six times more likely to have levels of 30-39 mcg/dl and EIGHT times more likely to exceed 40 mcg/dl. This is criminal.
But the effects of lead poisoning don't stop at IQ loss, which would be bad enough. The link to violent crime has been proven over and over again, yet people seem squeamish about pointing out specific examples. The evidence that violence is caused by lead exposure gets stronger when hair lead levels of violent criminals are compared with those convicted of property crimes--in nearly all cases, the violent criminals had higher hair lead levels. This is after factors like age, drug use history, socioeconomic status & time institutionalized are controlled for.
While we can't look at a person and say their behavior is definitely caused by lead poisoning, we can look at the generations & communities most likely to be exposed & get a general idea of lead's effects. And we damn well should. We wring our hands about the horrific effect that drugs like crack & fentanyl have had on our communities but give a literal neurotoxin like lead a pass. Why? It's always "drugs, poverty & fatherless homes" that get the blame with some "rap music" thrown in for good measure.
Indeed, being poor is stressful. Not knowing where your next meal is coming from--wearing hand-me-downs while your peers wear the latest name brands--takes its toll. All of that contributes to desperate acts like drug dealing & theft, but it doesn't turn a normal person into a cold-blooded killer or rapist who commits violent acts just for kicks. And there IS a difference. People who commit crimes like shoplifting or drug dealing to get their basic needs met are not the same as sociopaths & psychopaths. Poverty does not explain the levels of violence we saw from the 1960's through the early 1990's in America's inner cities between the Bloods & Crips, nor with our nation's (mostly white) serial killer epidemic & assassinations of public figures like JFK, RFK, John Lennon, Harvey Milk, Malcolm X, MLK, Ronald Reagan (attempted), George Wallace (attempted).
Indeed, poverty hasn't gone anywhere. In fact income inequality has gotten much worse. Wages have stagnated while cost of living & productivity have skyrocketed. Gentrification has pushed long-term residents out of their neighborhoods from New York to San Francisco as corporations like Black Rock buy up homes & apartment complexes across the country. Yet gang violence, serial killings, domestic terrorism & other forms of violent crime have dropped precipitously since the mid-'90s when Hillary Clinton made her infamously crude remarks about "Superpredators".
Superpredators: A result of lead poisoning?
Drug addiction & overdose deaths have risen to historic highs since 2015, yet violent crime has remained stable. While the crack epidemic was a plague, we now have more drugs flooding our cities, towns & suburbs than at any time in this nation's history. Stimulants that make crack look mild by comparison like flakka, bath salts & ultra-pure methamphetamine are ubiquitous. Downers & opioids of deadly potency are easy to get. That's to say nothing of the wide variety of dissociatives (ketamine, PCP, nitrous) & hallucinogens (DMT vape pens, ayahuasca, salvia) and a smorgasbord of cannabis products. You simply couldn't get that variety of drugs in the ultra-violent '80s when crack was king, and certainly not with a simple text or message to an Instagram dealer. Drugs are everywhere yet violent crime has decreased since the 1980s crack era.
Oh, and another thing: The U.S. incarcerates more of its population than any country on Earth. That number has increased dramatically since the 1970's. More Blacks are in the criminal justice system now than there were slaves at the height of slavery in 1850. So this disproves the "fatherless homes" theory. While it's undoubtedly detrimental to grow up without a mother or father, in no way does it guarantee that a child will become violent as an adult. Families come in all shapes & configurations, with grandparents, uncles, step-fathers & other positive role models filling the role of biological father in many instances.
So to wrap this up: blaming poverty, drug dealing/abuse or absentee parents for violence is not correct. Nor is claiming that increased incarceration has improved the situation of violence on our streets. Because this isn't just an American phenomenon.
Leaded Gasoline Around the World
Iraqi gas station, where leaded gas was phased out in 2021
Leaded gas was phased out in 1973 in the United States & officially removed from gas stations on January 1, 1996. Other countries followed their own schedule. Violent crime in the U.S. peaked in the early '90s & has been steadily decreasing ever since--that 20-year lag means kids born after 1973 were less prone to violence once they reached the "peak" violence ages of 18-25 than those born before. This decrease in violent crime happened not only in the U.S. but worldwide. Every country phased leaded gas out in different years and their crime rates peaked/fell in the same exact pattern as ours (i.e - with the same 20-year lag following the ban).
I know it's hard to believe we live in a less violent world now with the constant reports of mass shootings at schools, grocery stores & other public places, but it's true. The reason we feel like crime is worse is due to the internet & 24-hour news channels like FOX, CNN & MSNBC which didn't exist for most of the 20th Century. Back then, the news came on TV at 12:00 p.m., 6 p.m. & 11:00 p.m. and consisted mostly of local stories. And before that, newspapers were the main news source and they only came out once a day.
U.S. violent crime stats by age/year
To give an idea of how crazy it was during peak violence years, in a single 18 month period between 1971 and 1972, there were 2,500 bombings on American soil, most of them committed by American citizens. This averages roughly 5 per day. Airplane hijackings were commonplace in the '70s & '80s, as were prison breaks & other things we mostly only see in Netflix dramas now. Violent crime including murder, rape, robbery & aggravated assault have all decreased dramatically since the mid-to-late 1990s across not only the country but the world (with the exception of a few countries). But we'll get to that in a minute. If you have any doubt about what a mad, mad world it was in those days, check out the cult classic documentary 'The Killing of America' (1981).
The very last places on Earth to ban leaded gasoline in 2021 were North Korea, Myanmar, Iraq & Afghanistan. Think for a moment about what these countries are known for. North Korea is notoriously closed off from the outside world due to their isolationist policies. Censorship there is among the strictest in the world--all media outlets are owned & controlled by the NK government. Cell phones were completely banned from 2004-2008, and the country currently ranks as the world's worst internet black hole. Short-wave radio possession is against the law in North Korea. Upwards of 70% of media reports are dedicated solely to the idolization of Kim Jong-un. Myanmar is a hotbed of human trafficking (men for labor; women & children for sex); Iraq & Afghanistan are globally known for terrorism and their brutal figureheads Saddam Hussein & Osama Bin Laden. A majority of Afghanis and their Taliban leaders have chosen to remain in the Stone Age rather than adopt modern technology & globalism or "Western" democratic standards. For centuries. If predictions about leaded gasoline's effects are correct, terrorism in these nations will be cut in half by 2040.
Environmental Racism
Race, not income, is the #1 predictor of living near toxic environments
When white nationalists & racists--even faux-scientists like the authors of "The Bell Curve" who claimed that certain races are genetically inferior when it comes to intelligence--look down on Black & brown people, citing things like violence, poor grammar or other "signs" of inferiority, how much of that is actually caused by racism itself? In other words, are discriminatory housing policies, the dumping of leaded gasoline & outsourcing of industrial pollutants to poorer nations causing minorities to become the very thing these racists hate? Make no mistake: racists will hate regardless of any "reason," but it's absolutely criminal to commit soft genocide by poisoning entire demographics of people & then blame them for the shortcomings that YOU caused or endorsed with your votes.
Here are two documented lead poisoning victims who died violently in police custody & exhibited aberrant behavior in the hours leading up to their murders. Both were part of a lawsuit against Baltimore alleging that 2,000 homes were contaminated with peeling, flaking lead-based paint poisoning at least 65,000 children. And after being murdered by cops, online commenters blamed them for their deaths, claiming they brought it on themselves. While there may be a grain of truth in this at some level, the bigger picture is that America's police brutality and ecological racism are an intersectional issue that desperately needs addressing.
The Briley Brothers--a trio of serial rapist, serial killing brothers who escaped from death row in 1984--are perfect candidates for the lead poisoning hypothesis. Raised in a middle class neighborhood in a 2-parent home in Virginia, the brothers showed signs of sadism & extreme sociopathy from an early age but with no obvious cause. One of them had shot and killed an elderly neighbor at age 16 which was the first real sign of trouble. Their killing spree was so gruesome I won't go into details, but it involved the brutal beating/rape/murder of men, women & children of various ages ranging from 5 to 76. They murdered for fun, not for the purpose of robbing people or getting revenge. When faced with the ultimate punishment they showed no fear, telling their mother "don't worry mom, it doesn't happen right away" immediately after receiving a death penalty sentence.
The likelihood of 3 brothers in one family turning out this evil by chance--especially with normal-appearing parents--is extremely low. Yet in this documentary they're labeled "Born To Kill" & referred to as a "gang". Sorry psychologists, but gangs don't kill for the enjoyment of killing. They kill for revenge, over drug turf or because a rival is wearing the wrong colors (which goes back to the first two items in this list--drug turf or revenge). Over time, gang members become desensitized to killing which makes it easier, but it's never "fun," and the first time is generally very traumatizing. These sick fucks were killing for sheer enjoyment. Just because they're Black doesn't make them "a gang". These brothers were the equivalent of 3 Ted Bundys in one family, and figuring out what went wrong is vital to the field of forensic psychology & crime prevention.
The Serial Killers Who Escaped Death Row (Born To Kill) | Our Life
It's extremely hard bordering on impossible to find the names of actual criminals who tested positive for lead poisoning after committing violent crimes, so unfortunately we're left to speculate. But if you go back in time & watch videos from the 1970s, 1980s & early 1990s you'll see a difference in the speech & general behavior of target populations (i.e. low income inner city Black & brown people, serial killers or prison inmates incarcerated for violent crimes).
The good news is it's gotten much better; the bad news is it's an ongoing problem & minorities are still disproportionately affected. Lead is still found in many consumer products including jet fuel, toys & pottery from other countries and ammunition. A complete list can be found here. But there are many other things that can lower a child's IQ and cause behavior changes for life.
Protecting Your Child's Brain Health
Brain health is about cumulative exposures. The effects of lead poisoning can be made much worse by other factors like poor nutrition, other chemical exposures, oxygen deprivation at birth & severe emotional trauma/neglect. That's good news because it means there are things you can do to improve your child's overall outlook for a successful life even in the presence of lead toxicity.
Head trauma is a huge risk factor that's still getting a pass, and much of it is preventable. Putting your kid in Pop Warner football, soccer, ice hockey, lacrosse or other contact sports puts them at risk of concussion and repeated sub-concussive hits that lead to CTE, a progressive and fatal brain disease. But even in the absence of CTE, head injury on playground equipment or bicycles still does damage over time so limiting a child's total lifetime head impacts is very important. Some impacts like car accidents may not be avoidable, so it's vital to avoid them or reduce their severity when you can. If Aaron Hernandez, Chris Benoit & Jovan Belcher didn't convince you, likely CTE sufferers who are still living like OJ Simpson, Suge Knight, War Machine & Mike Tyson definitely should. The personal lives of these mercurial, often violent figures are nothing to aspire to. Hopefully we'll see preventable head trauma viewed the way lead exposure is today within the next 20 years.
The first 3 years of life are the most important in terms of brain development. If you want to give your baby the best chance at optimal neurological & mental health, make sure to get proper prenatal care, avoid all recreational substances (including cigarettes, alcohol & non-prescribed OTC medications) while pregnant & have regular checkups with your OB/GYN. Simply talking to your baby is one of the most effective ways to boost intelligence & vocabulary. The number of words spoken to a child before the age of 3 is directly correlated with IQ, numerical understanding & reasoning so make sure to spend plenty of one-on-one time looking into the child's eyes & communicating with them when you can.
And good nutrition is vital--breastfeeding being the ideal for complete nutrition for the first 6 months of life according to the World Health Organization. If you can't breastfeed, a quality formula will suffice. As your child gets old enough to eat solid food, avoid junk foods like chips, candy, juice & soda as these not only cause tooth decay but offer no nutritional value & contribute to childhood obesity. Aim for a balanced diet of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins like chicken, fish & beans and healthy mono/poly-unsaturated fats.
There are programs to help if you can't afford adequate food or medical care: SNAP, WIC, TANF, Medicaid & others exist for this purpose. But ideally, avoid having children if you can't afford to give them the best life possible. A country that can't even guarantee a steady supply of baby formula isn't a place to bring a baby into the world without having all your bases covered.
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